Netflix’s live-action take on the 1997 anime classic ‘Cowboy Bebop‘ is moving forward in a big way and has just cast John Cho (‘Star Trek’), Mustafa Shakir (‘Luke Cage’), Daniella Pineda (‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’), and Alex Hassell (‘The Miniaturist’) in the leading roles for the series! Alex Garcia Lopez (‘Daredevil’) will be directing the first two episodes with a script by Chris Yost (Thor: Ragnarok’). For those unfamiliar with the series, it is a space-western which follows a group of bounty hunters who are all either on the run from their pasts or are trying to discover who they actually are.

Cho is Spike Spiegel, an impossibly cool “cowboy” (bounty hunter) with a deadly smile, a wry wit, and style to spare. He travels the solar system with his ex-cop partner, Jet, pursuing the future’s most dangerous bounties with a combination of charm, charisma — and deadly Jeet Kune Do.

Shakir is Jet Black, one of the few honest cops in the solar system before an ultimate betrayal robbed him of all that he loved, forcing him into a vagabond life of hunting bounties to put food on the table. Jet is an inveterate jazz enthusiast and Captain of the Bebop.

Pineda is Faye Valentine, a bold, brash and unpredictable bounty hunter. Suffering from amnesia after years of being cryogenically frozen, Faye does whatever it takes to survive. Whether she’s lying, stealing, or just being a thorn in Spike and Jet’s side.

Hassell is Vicious, a man who thoroughly enjoys a good kill, Vicious is the Syndicate’s most notorious hitman. He’s also Spike Spiegel’s ex-partner and arch-enemy.

While I’m a bit indifferent on most of this casting at this point, I do feel that Cho can pull off the chops to play Spiegel convincingly. The others, I haven’t seen in rolls similiar enough to the characters they’ll be playing to hazard a guess. There is no news yet as to who might end up playing Radical Ed or Julia, assuming that they’ll both be showing up in the first season.

What do you think of the casting for a live-action ‘Cowboy Bebop’? Can this new series succeed where so many anime and manga adaptations have failed? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

‘Cowboy Bebop’ will begin production in April 2019. Check back for more news as it becomes available!

Stuart Conover

Stuart Conover is a father, husband, blogger, published author, geek, entrepreneur, editor of Horror Tree, horror fanatic, science fiction junkie, lives in a world of comics, and a casual gamer (all of this when his wife lets him of course.) He fell in love with science fiction and horror at the same time while watching the movie Alien at probably far too young of an age while still being extremely impressionable and has been happily obsessed with both since! Around the same time, he had also developed an unhealthy addiction to comic books that continues to this day!Want to talk about anything geeky? Reach out on Twitter - @StuartConover